Choosing a Hermeneutic
Hermeneutics! Sounds cool, doesn’t it. Perhaps that is as good a reason as any why it has gained so much currency in Biblical scholarship circles. It also sounds difficult. It seems to suggest a discipline open only to the initiated, the educated, the scholar. Scholars go for this kind of elitism. They are just as proud as anyone else. Specialist, esoteric language gives a kudos and mystique to a domain of learning that helps protect it from the ordinary mortals. It provides a verbal defence of privacy. Thus the field of ‘hermeneutics’, in theological circles, is ‘sexy’.
Actually, ‘hermeneutics’ are pretty mundane. They are simply the principles we use to interpret the Bible. In this sense, it is a label for a practice that Christians have been engaged in for centuries, reading the Bible intelligently. Now it is possible to belittle the ‘science ’ of Biblical interpretation and we must avoid this. Clear principles of how to understand a text are very helpful. Hermeneutics at its best teaches us these principles. However, these principles are no more than a reasonably educated person would soon grasp by careful reading of and reflection on the Bible itself. After all, the Bible was not a text for scholars. It is composed of books written for ordinary Christians, not for professors in seminaries and universities. In fact, in Jesus’ day, ironically those who least grasped the meaning of the Biblical text were the professors and scholars (Jn 5:39; Matt 22:29); a fact we should not quickly forget. Again, this is not to rubbish scholarly work in the field of hermeneutics, just to keep it grounded in our minds. Respect scholarly work but do not revere it. Scholars, as we shall see, have their blind spots and personal agendas.
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About John
Hi there - I am a member of Greenview and have been for over 20 years. For a number of these years I functioned as an elder, however, indifferent health forced me to take more of a back seat. I see this as an opportunity to do a little writing, often focussing on issues that are a matter of evangelical debate today. Naturally the views expressed are my own and may not reflect the views of the elders or church at large, though differences are likely to be in the detail and not the substance.
These articles and sermons were written partly to clarify my own thoughts and partly with the intention of provoking thought in others who may read them. If you read one I hope you find it stimulating. Please feel free to give me feedback or discuss my articles in the forums.
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